Timer control



March 25, 1941. H. M. BlEBEy.

TIMER CONTROL Filed oct. 27, 1959 2 sheets-sheet 1 ATTORNEY March 25,1941. H. M. BIEBEL 2,236,395

TIMER CONTRLA Filed Oct. 27, 1959- 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I'I 87 Ill II /5' RNEY Patented Mar. 25, 1941 UNITED STATES TIMER, coN'rnor.

nemen 1u. Bieber, Elgin, nl., assigner to McGraw Electric Company, Elgin, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application October 27, 1939, Serial No. 301,555 s claims.' (ci. 161-16) a relatively simple means operable only beforev initiating a toasting operation and selecting the period -of time during which a slice or slices oi 15 bread will betoasted in the toaster.

Other objects of my invention will either be obvious from a description of one form of device embodying my invention now preferred by me of a description thereof and will be set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a front view of a toaster, on a reduced scale; showing certain parts thereof inv 25 non-toasting position,

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view thereof with vthe parts shown in the same position as in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a front elevational view taken on the I line 3-3 of Fig. 6, with certain of the parts 3ov shown in non-toasting position.

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of the mechanical timer taken on the line 4-'4 of Fig. 3, illustrating particularly the detent lever, the wind-up rack and the timer-winding and detentltripping member,

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 6,

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary side elevational view taken on the lin'e 6-6 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary front elevational view showing the parts in toasting position, with cer- Y tain control parts set in position for light toasting,

. Fig. 8 is a. diagram of the electrical connections of the toaster heatngelements, and,

Fig. 9 is a side Aelevational view ofthe parts shown in Fig. '7 of the drawings.v

I -have elected to show my invention as applied,`

l to a well known automatic electric toaster and certain parts will be illustrated and described in that my invention is not limited come particular details.A of construction of a toaster shown in or will be specifically pointed out in the course- A order to show the application of my. invention thereto although I desire it to be understood composition material havingv mounted thereon adjacent its upper surface a base plate I5. The

toaster includes also a casing, comprising a cenv trai -part Il of inverted U-shape, the side portions of which intert with side plates I9, por- 5 tion I1 being provided with one ormore elon- .gated openings 2l through which slices of bread may be inserted into the toaster and through which slices of toast maybe removed from the toaster. l 10 I provide pairs of planar vertically extending electric heating elements 23, the number of these pairs being inl-accordance with the number oi?` .slices of broad which the toaster may be designed to toast at one time. These electric hating elements include one or more pieces of mica and resistor ribbon 21 wound thereon in a manner well known in the art. 'I'he lower edge portions of these heating elements may interft with the base plate i5 while the upper edge por- 20 tions thereof may be held in proper operative positions by top frame plates 29. Depending guard or guide wires 3| are provided which may be suspended from the frame plates 29.`

Means .for supporting one or more slices of 25 bread in the toaster, which has been shown as a two-slice toaster in the drawings, may include breadcarriers 33, of which two areprovided as shown' in the drawings.; These bread carriers have portions extending through a front intermediate wall 35, of thin sheet metal, while the rear end portions of these carriers will `extend through lsuitable slots .in a rear intermediate wall not shown in the drawings but well known 'inthe art. The front end Vportions of the car- 35 riers 33 may be held rigidly connected together by a bar or rod 39 (seevFig. 5), a biasing spring 4| having one of its ends connected to the rod 39 while the other end thereof may be connected to a bracket 43 secured to the front intermediate 40 wall. This spring 4| biases the carriers normally and yieldingly into their upper. or non-toasting position, from which position they may be moved by means to be hereinaiter ysetforth, into their lower or toasting position shown in broken lines 45 in Fig. 6 of the drawings.

I provide a mechanical timer `4l which may be of the kind disclosed and claimed in Ireland PatentNo. 1,866,808 assigned to the same assignee as is the present application. Generally the timer l1 may be a variable speed timer, that is, one which may. be controlled manually or .thermostatically to vary its speed. When controlled manually the operator will adjust its speed in ,accordance with the temperature of the toaster of which the timer is a part and if the same is thermostatically controlled, a thermoilexible bar will vary the speed of the timer in accordance with the temperature of the toasting chamber, all as disclosed and claimed in Graham Patent No. 2,138,674 assigned to the same assignee as is the present application. I do not desire, however, to be limited to the use of a variable speed timer but may use'a constant speed timer, in which case no thermal control is possible.

The lower end of timer 41 may be held in proper operative position by depending portions 49 thereof, interfitting with base plate I5 (see Fig. 4), while the upper part thereof may be held by a bracket 5|, of substantially L-shape, secured against the front intermediate wall 35. When the timer is a variable speed timer, a small speedadjusting knob 53 is provided to permit of manual adjustment of the timer before or during a toasting operation, al1 as disclosed and claimed in Patent No. 1,866,808.

The timer 41 is provided with a winding pinion 54 meshing with arack bar 55, this rack bar being heldin proper operative position and meshing with pinion 5'4 by a grooved roller 51.\ The lower end of rack bar 55 is provided with a laterally' projecting pin 59 by means of which the timer may be wound by downward movement of the rack bar 55. The timer is further provided with a pivotally mounted detent lever 6|, the lower end of .which is so arranged and positioned that it may be engaged by means to be hereinafter described and connected with the carrier to hold the carrier in lowered or toasting position. The

' detent lever 6| is pivotally mounted on a short stub shaft or pin 63 and is normally yieldingly biased to its operative position by a spring 65, thel upper end of the detent lever 6I being provided with a pin 61 for a purpose to be hereinafter referred to. 2

The toaster structure is further provided with an outer pair of vertically extending rods or standards 69 and an inner pair of vertically extending rods or standards 1|, the lower ends of which may interfit with and be held by base plate I5 while the upper ends thereof may have intertting engagement with the front end portions of the top frame plates 29 and Vwith a. cross bar 12. The outer pair of standards 69 have vertically movably mounted thereon a pair'of sliders 13 and 15. These siiders have rearwardly extending portions 11 (see Fig. 5) which may also engage with the rod 39 whereby the two sliders 13 and 15 and the carriers 33 may be rigidly secured together to cause them to move in unison.

The inner pair of standards 1| have mounted thereon a vertically movable carriage plate 19 as by use of rollers 8|, so that the carriage plate 19 may be moved vertically upwardly and down` wardly with relatively little friction on its supporting standards 1|. The carriage 19 is provided with a lateral extension 83 which is adapted to fit over a forwardly extending portion 85 on slider 13 so that when the carriage plate 19 is moved downwardly the sliders and the bread carriers will also be moved downwardly. However, it is possible for .the carriage plate 19 to move upwardly, as will be later described, while the bread carriers and the sliders remain in their lower and toasting position. The' right-hand slider 15 is provided with an extension 81 which extension 81 is adapted to t under and engage the lower end portion of detent lever 6|. When the extension 81 is moved downwardly it will engage and cause slight turning movement of the lower end portion of detent lever 6| and then fit thereunder to be held thereby in its lowered position with the sliders and the carriers in their lower position.

The carriage 19 has mounted thereon a stub shaft 89, the rear end portion of which extends through and is supported by a bracket 9| (see Fig. 5), the shaft 89 being so supported as to be capable of turning movement in its supports. A biasing spring 93 is so arranged in combination with the shaft 89 that the shaft is normally yieldingly biased vin a clockwise direction and held in such position by means to be described. A knob is xedly mounted on the-front end of shaft 89 whereby an operator may move the carriage 19 and the sliders and bread carriers downwardly from non-toasting to toasting position, a slot 96 being provided in the front part of the casing portion |1 to permit of this movement.l

A lever arm 91 is xedly mounted on the shaft 89 at one of its ends. the other end thereof being provided with an elongated slot 99 which is adapted to receive a pin |0I xedly mounted on a horizontally movable bar |03. This bar'is supported by brackets |05 secured to the front surface of carriage 19. The left-hand end of bar |03 may be bent over as'shown at |01 in Fig. 5 of the drawings to limit the right-hand movement thereof. The bar |03 is provided near its righthand end with a recess |09 in its lower edge. The bias of spring 93 and of shaft 89 is such that lever arm 91 will be turned to the position shown in full lines in Fig. 3 of the drawings, further turning movement of arm 91 and further longitudinal movement of bar |03 being prevented by the lateral lug |01 engaging the left-hand supporting bracket |05.

A combined timer-winding and detent lever tripping member I is movably mounted against the right-hand side of carriage 19, this-carriage having a rearwardly extending flanged portion I I3 to` receive and support member |II. This timerwinding anddetent-tripping member is of generally plate or bar shape extending longitudinally vertically of the carriage 19. Member.

I is provided with a pair of velongated slots |5 through which extend pins ||1 which are xedly secured in flange portion ||3.` The lower end of member |I| is provided with a widened portion I I9 having a recess of inverted V-shape |3| there- `in and is provided with -a cam surface |23 at its forward edge, which cam surface' is adapted to engage pin 61 on lever arm 6| to cause clockwise turning movement thereof (as seen in Fig. 4) to cause releasing movement of the detent lever 6I at the end of a toasting operation with resultant upward movement of the carriers and the sliders.

The length of member III is such that when the carriage is in its upper or non-toasting position, the upper end of member will engage with the lower surface of the front end portion of the right-hand top frame plate 29 whereby member I I I is moved to the lowermost position on carriage 19 which it can occupy relatively thereto.

The recess |09 in bar |93 will then be adapted to receive the upper edge of a forwardly extending portion |25 on member III so that when an operator presses down on knob 95 Without any turning movement, the member I I will be maintained in substantially its lowermo'st position relatively to the carriage 19. This downward movement, by an operator of the carriage, of the sliders and the carriers, will effect winding up of the carriers and the sliders to non-toasting position.

l lower position relatively to carriage 19 as demechanical timer 41 to substantially the maximum amount desired. The extension 81 of slider engages under the lower end of detent 6 The timer will then begin to run down causing upward movement of the rack bar 55, of member and carriage 19 until cam surface |23 on portion ||9 engages pin 61 on the detent lever 'causing turning movement of the lever to a carrier-releasing position, whereupon spring 4| causes sudden upward movement of the bread Let it now be supposed that an operator desires to obtain a. different and particularly a lesser degree of toasting of a slice or slices of bread to be operated upon, he causes a turning movement of the knob y 95 in a counter-clockwise direction before exerting any downward pressure on the knob to initiate a toasting operation. When this is done by the operator,'bar |03 will be moved to the position shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings so that its right-handend will be out of engagement with member and when the operator now presses downwardly on knob 95, member will momentarily remain substantially stationary because of the engagement of pin 59 on the rack bar 55 with the V-groove 2| until the carriage 19, and particularly the pins ||1 thereon, have been moved downwardly into the positions shown in Fig. 9 of .the drawings, the pins I |1 now being located in the lower part of the elongated slots |5. Winding up of the timer will now begin, assuming that the operator continues to move the knob 95 downwardly, but it is evident that the timer will not be wound to the same degree as would be done if the knob 95 had not been turned, all as hereinbefore described. The carriers will be moved to their toasting position andthe extension 81 will move under and into locking en'- gagement with the lower end of detent lever 6|. Bar |03 will be held in the position shown in Fig. 7 with its right-hand end engaging the adjacent facey of extension |25, so that it is impossible for the operator to make any change in the position of bar |03, so long as he continues the downward movement of the knob and the parts connected therewith and during the rest of the toasting operation. The timerwill now begin to run down but it will be noted that member and the cam surface |23 thereon is in a higher position relativelyvto the carriage 19 lso that the cam surface |23 will engage pin 61 earlier than would be the case if member were in the other scribed heretofore in connection with the rst operation of the toaster. It is thus evident that turning movement of knob 95 in a counter-clockwise direction preparatory to initiating a toasting operation, results in less than full winding up of the timer and in an earlier bread carrier release than would be effected if no such turning of the knob had been done by the operator.

Reference is here made to my `co-pending'application, Ser. No. 299,940 filed October 18, 1939, and assigned to the same assignee as is this application. In that application I have disclosed and claimed an auxiliary detent tripping mem-v ber which is eiective when moved into operative position to cause an earlier tripping or release of the detent lever than is effected by the main timer-winding and detent-tripping member. In

the present device I disclose and claim means' constituted by a single timer-winding and detenttripping member which permits of not only decreasing the degree of winding of a mechanical timer effected. by a full o r constant length move- ,lng and detent-tripping member is automatically returned to its normal or long-time winding position relatively to the vcarriage 19 at the end of f that toasting operation in the following manner.

During the upward movement of carriage 19, trip member and bar |03 move as one unit. When the upper end of member engages member 45 its movement is stopped, carriage 19 is momentarily stopped until sliders 13 and 15 overtake it and then completes its upward movement at which time bar |03 will be clear of extension |25 and free to move into its right-hand position under the influence of the biasing spring 93.

If it is desired t0 control also the energization of the plurality of heating elements 23, I may provide a xed contact member |26 and a, spring contact arm |21 insulatedly mounted on a small plate |29 of electric-insulating material secured to and below the base plate l5. Contact arm |21 may be moved downwardly by an actuating rod |3| having the greater portion of its length p ositioned within a tubular casing |33, rod |3| being biased upwardly by a spring so that normally contact spring |21 is out of engagement with fixed contact member |26. A bracket |31 is fixedly secured to slider 13 so that when the sliders are moved downwardly, bracketr |31 is moved into the broken line positions shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, whereby the rod |3| is moved. downwardly to cause contact bar |21 to engage contact' |26. It is obvious of course that when slider 13 is moved upwardly, as hereinbefore explained, by spring 4| at the end of a toasting operation, the heaters will be deenergized.

While I have illustrated and described a specic embodiment of my invention as applied to a particular design of toaster structure, I d-esire it to be understood that my invention is not limited to the particular parts shown in the drawings,

to cause the carrier to move into toasting position,

a detent to hold the carrier in toasting position and a mechanicaltimer, the'improvement comprising va timer-winding and detent-trip member to cause wind-up of the timer when the carrier is moved into toasting position and then being 'moved by the operating timer to cause release movement of the detent, said trip member hav- -ing two; opposite limiting positions relatively to its support tocause selectively diierent wind-ups of .the timer and selectively different durations of operation of the timer before said trip member engages and causes release of said carrier-holdmounted on the carrier moving means, effective ing detent and means normally locking said trip member in one ofits limiting positions.

2. In an automatic electric toaster comprising toast heating elements,V a bread carrier movable totoasting and non-toasting positions relatively to the toast heating elements and normally yieldingly biased to non-toasting position, means movable through a fixed distance in one direction to cause the carrier to move into toasting position, a detent to hold the carrier in toasting position and a mechanical timer. the improvement comprising a timer-winding and detent-trip member mounted on the carrier moving means, eifective to cause wind-up of the timer when the carrier is moved into toasting position and then being moved by the operating timer to' cause release movement of the detent, said trip member having two opposite tive positions and fective only before starting movement of the limiting positions relatively to its support to cause selectively diiferent wind-ups of the timer and selectively dierent durations of operation of .v

the timer before said trip member engages and causes release of said carrier-holding detent and means locking said trip member in that one of its positions where it will cause full wind-up of the timer and full duration of timer operation beforev release of the deten 3. In an automatic electric toaster comprising toast heating elements, a bread carrier movable to toasting and non-toasting positions relatively to the toast heating elements and normally yieldingly biased to non-toasting position. means movable through a fixed distance in one direction to cause the carrier to move into toasting position to initiate a toasting operation, a detent to hold the carrier in toasting position and a mechanical timer, the improvement comprising a timer-winding and detent-tripping member mounted on the carrier moving means, effective to cause wind-up of the timer when the carrier is being moved into toasting position and then being moved by the operating timer in a return direction to engage and cause carrier-release movement of the detent, means supporting said detent-tripping member on said carrier-moving means to cause said member to selectively occupy either one of two opposed operative positions thereon to vary the degree of timer wind-up and duration of timer operation to cause detent release movement by said detent-tripping member. means locking' said detent-tripping member in one of its operamanually-actuable means efcarrier-moving means to cause unlocking movement -of said detent-tripping member locking means to cause movement of said detent-tripping member into its other operative position on starting movementl of the carrier-moving means to initiate a toasting operation.

4. A device as set forth in iclaim 3 and including means to cause return of said detent-tripping member to said one position when the bread' carrier has been returned to non-toasting position.

5. In an automatic electric toaster comprising toast heating elements, a control switch for said toast heating elements normally yieldingly' biased to open position, means including a knob movable through a'iixd distance in one direction to cause closing of said switch, a detent to hold said switch closed during a toasting operation and a mechanical timer for terminating a 'toasting operation, -the improvement comprising a timer-winding and detent-tripping member mounted on said switchclosing means, effective to cause wind-up of the whensaid switch-closing means -is moved in said one 'direction and then 'being moved in the member having two opposed limiting positions relatively toits support to cause selectively different degrees of wind-up of the timer and selectively different durations ot operation of the timer to cause said detent-tripping member to enge said detent and cause release movement thereof and means normally locking said detenttripping member in that position to cause full wind-up of the timer and to require a relatively long duration of operation of the timer before release movement of the detent is eiiected.

6. In an automatic electric toaster comprising toast heating elements.7 a control switch for said toast heating elements normally yieldingly biased to open position. means including a knob movable through a fixed distance in one direction to cause closing of said switch. a detent to hold said switch closed during a toasting operation and a mechanical timer for terminating a toasting operation. kthe improvement comprising a timer-winding and Adetent-trimming member mounted on said switchclosing means, effective to cause wind-up of the timer when said switch-closing means is moved in said one direction and then being moved in the opposite direction by the operating timer to ensage said detent and cause release movement thereof, said timer-winding and detent-tripping member having two opposed limiting positions relatively to its support to cause selectively different degrees of wind-up of the timer and selectively different durations of operation of the timer to cause said detent-tripping member to en- 888e said detent and cause release movement l means normally locking said detentthat position to cause full wind-up of the timer and to require a relatively lo'ng duration of operation of the timer before release movement of the detent is effected and means including said knob actuable only before said `switch-closing means is moved in said one direction to cause closing of said switch to move said locking means to cause movement of said timer-winding anddetent-tripping member to its thereof. tripping member in other position on moving the switch-closing wind-up of the timer when said switch-closing means is moved in said one direction and then being moved in the opposite directionby the opf erating timer to engage 4said detent and cause release 'movement thereof, said timer-winding and detent-tripping member heaving two opposed limiting positions relatively to its support to cause selectively different degrees of-wind-up of the-timer and selectively different durations of operation of the timer to cause said detenttrippin member to engage said detent and cause release movementthereof, means normally lockins said detent-tripping member in that position to cause full wind-up of the timer and to require a relatively long duration of operation of the timer before-release movement of the detent is eiiected, means including said knob actuable only before said switch-closing means is moved in said one' direction to cause closing of said switch to move said locking means to cause movement of said timer-winding and 'detent tripping member to its other position on moving the switch-closing means in said one direction and means eiective at the end of a toasting opto the toast heating elements and normally yieldingly biased to non-toasting position. means movable through a fixed distance in one direction to cause the carrier to move into toasting position,

a detent to hold the carrier in toasting position and a mechanical timer, the improvement comprising a timer-winding and detent-trip member mounted on'the carrier moving means, eiective to cause wind-up of the timer when the carrier is li'oved into toasting position and then being moved by the operating timer to cause release movement of the detent, said trip member having two opposite limiting positions,A relatively to its support to cause selectively dierent Wind-ups of the timer and selectively different durations oi' operation of the timer before said trip member engages and causes release of said carrier-holding detent, means normally locking said timerwinding and detent-tripping member in that one of its positions where it will effect full windup of the timer and require full duration lof timer operation before release of the detent, and manualiy-actuable means on said carrier-moving means operable only before starting movement` of the carrier toward toasting position to cause unlocking movement of the locking means and to cause said timer-winding and datent-tripping member to be moved into the other of its positi'onsonoperation of the carrier-moving means to cause movement of the carrier into toasting position. Y

' B IEBEL. 

